Saturday Report: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has taken in an estimated $56.256 million from Friday’s opening day grosses, including Thursday night’s $17 million portion. This comes in 49 percent ahead of its predecessor’s $37.85 million first day in August 2014. Notably, the film had been tracking for a stronger debut based on traditional industry tracking as interest levels were further ahead of Suicide Squad and Deadpool and more in line with the likes of Rogue One. Pre-sale data compared to recent Marvel films had also indicated a debut north of $150 million as being highly likely entering the weekend. Still, as we cautioned in Wednesday’s final forecast, tracking at this level of performance is never a guarantee. Regardless, this is still another major victory for Disney and Marvel as they kick off yet another summer movie season with a film that fans and audiences are responding very positively to based on its 89 percent Flixster rating and an “A” CinemaScore.

Official studio estimates will be updated on Sunday. For now, here are a few key weekend projections based on Friday’s grosses:

WIDE (1000+)

#

TITLE

WEEKEND

LOCATIONS

AVG.

TOTAL

WKS.

DIST.

1

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

$140,000,000

—

4,347

—

$32,206

$140,000,000

1

Disney

2

The Fate of the Furious

$8,200,000

-59%

3,595

-482

$2,281

$206,807,530

4

Universal

3

The Boss Baby

$5,925,000

-37%

3,284

-455

$1,804

$156,485,525

6

Fox / DreamWorks Animation

4

How to Be A Latin Lover

$4,500,000

-63%

1,203

85

$3,741

$19,903,320

2

Lionsgate / Pantelion

5

The Circle

$3,800,000

-58%

3,163

0

$1,201

$15,495,113

2

STX Entertainment

6

Beauty and the Beast

$3,500,000

-49%

2,680

-475

$1,306

$486,151,615

8

Disney

7

Gifted

$2,075,000

-38%

1,874

-341

$1,107

$19,260,331

5

Fox Searchlight

8

Going in Style

$2,000,000

-45%

2,033

-728

$984

$40,700,918

5

Warner Bros. / New Line

9

Smurfs: The Lost Village

$1,900,000

-47%

1,902

-652

$999

$40,650,574

5

Sony / Columbia

10

Born in China

$1,000,000

-58%

1,414

-94

$707

$10,723,911

3

Disneynature

11

Unforgettable

$630,000

-74%

1,003

-1414

$628

$10,590,111

3

Warner Bros.

LIMITED (100 — 999)

#

TITLE

WEEKEND

LOCATIONS

AVG.

TOTAL

WKS.

DIST.

1

Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

$2,700,000

-74%

400

-25

$6,750

$15,632,996

2

Great India Films

2

The Lost City of Z

$1,100,000

-39%

815

-51

$1,350

$1,100,000

4

Amazon Studios / Bleecker Street

3

Get Out

$700,000

-59%

818

-745

$856

$173,824,985

11

Universal

4

The Case For Christ

$385,000

-61%

585

-465

$658

$13,868,711

5

Pure Flix

5

Logan

$300,000

-61%

444

-170

$676

$225,050,201

10

Fox

6

Hidden Figures

$62,000

-28%

113

-11

$549

$169,088,682

20

Fox

===

Friday Report: Disney estimates this morning that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 bowed to $17 million from Thursday night’s debut shows beginning at 7pm in North America. By comparison, that comes in 52 percent ahead of its predecessor’s $11.2 million Thursday night launch in August 2014. This marks the biggest Thursday night launch of 2017 so far. Notably, GOTG2 came in 32 percent below Captain America: Civil War‘s $25 million Thursday night start at the beginning of last May, although the expectation has been and remains that Guardians 2 should pull somewhat stronger walk-up business beginning today and throughout the weekend.